Today In Entertainment

AUGUST 27, 2020

In this special edition of Today In Entertainment: What's next for TikTok, how the pandemic will impact broadcast TV's fall schedule, and sporting events are on pause in the wake of player protests. --Alex Weprin

 What Next For TikTok?

➤TikTok tick tock: The entertainment and technology industries were jolted late last night by the news that Kevin Mayer had resigned as CEO of the red-hot social video app TikTok after just a few months on the job. 

--In a letter to employees obtained by THR’s Natalie Jarvey, Mayer said that the political environment had caused him to reconsider the job. "In recent weeks, as the political environment has sharply changed, I have done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up for," he wrote. Vanessa Pappas, the general manager of TikTok in North America, Australia and New Zealand, will serve as the company's interim CEO.

--What spurred the move? CNBC reports that Mayer was kept out of the loop on potential acquisition talks. What's next? TikTok remains in talks for a sale to either the cloud technology firm Oracle, or the unlikely partnership of Microsoft and Walmart, in a deal that could be worth $20-$30 billion. Read more.

 The Pandemic Delays Broadcast TV's Fall Season

➤The pandemic has thrown a wrench into the fall TV schedule. At NBC, the network has released its formal plan to return to its business as usual schedule. The network will launch its fall schedule in September with a roster of unscripted series and slowly rollout original dramas and comedies — as well as The Voice — starting in October with Martin Gero's social distance series Connecting and the return of Superstore. The slate of dramas, including This Is Us, four Dick Wolf shows and The Blacklist, will all return in the second week of November. The story.

+At CBS. With none of its original scripted dramas and comedies (think all things NCIS and Chuck Lorre fare) ready to air — many of which have not even begun production — the network has turned to so-called gently used imports from across the ViacomCBS brand (Pop's One Day at a Time, CBS All Access' Star Trek: Discovery) and acquired content (Spectrum's Manhunt: Deadly Games) as well as sports, election coverage and specials to fill the voids. Sources say the network hopes new and returning scripted series could begin airing in November.

--CBS will kickstart its fall season Sept. 9 with new episodes of summer holdovers Big Brother and Love Island. The unscripted holdovers — which started late after new production safeguards had to be put in place — will be joined by a Wednesday edition of 48 Hours: Suspicion. The trio fill slots that CBS had earmarked for The Amazing Race, SEAL Team and SWAT. The Amazing Race will make its fall debut Oct. 14 at 9 p.m. The story.

+Meanwhile at ABC: The network revealed premiere dates for its unscripted fare for the 202-21 season, slotting Press Your Luck for where the 17th season of Grey's Anatomy was to have been. Whereas ABC had planned to have three hours of scripted dramas on Thursday, new seasons of its game shows will instead fill in for Station 19, Grey's Anatomy and A Million Little Things, respectively. The same strategy is in play on Sundays, with Card Sharks filling the void of Nathan Fillion cop drama The Rookie. Sources say the network's scripted fare could return to the schedule as soon as October with the majority likely back in November, though which shows remains unclear. The story.

+And at Fox: The network is moving up its unscripted series I Can See Your Voice to the fall, pairing the new show with The Masked Singer on Wednesday nights. The broadcaster filmed the entirety of I Can See Your Voice during the summer, following production guidelines to ensure safety for cast and crew during the coronavirus pandemic. The Ken Jeong-hosted series is set to premiere Sept. 23, following the season premiere of The Masked Singer. The story.

 What About Live Sports?

➤On Wednesday, sports shut down in protest of the Jacob Blake shooting. On Thursday, they began to chart a path to return.

--Making their strongest statement yet in the fight against racial injustice, players from six NBA teams decided not to play postseason games on Wednesday in a boycott that quickly reverberated across other professional leagues. Also called off: Some games in Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and the three WNBA contests, as players across four leagues decided the best way to use their platform and demand change was to literally step off the playing surface.

--Players made the extraordinary decisions to protest the shooting by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday of Jacob Blake, a Black man, apparently in the back while three of his children looked on. The story.

+What next? On Thursday afternoon, the NBA players decided to continue the postseason, though specific details are still being worked out. The league hopes to resume play this weekend. Meanwhile on Thursday, the NHL postponed a playoff game, a number of MLB games were postponed, some NFL teams canceled their training camps, and the WNBA postponed its games in a show of solidarity. More.

In case you missed it...

➤After agency exodus, new firm pitches investors on star-driven production "cash cow.” As it hires UTA, CAA and WME reps, a firm backed by billionaire Steve Cohen and led by Peter Micelli tells potential financiers that major agencies' equity is in "free fall."

--THR’s Borys Kit has obtained investment documents for the new company, titled Moxie Media, that reveal a pitch that reads more as a declaration of war, with the new company taking direct shots at the existing agencies that dominate the industry. (Spokespersons for the new company have insisted that the firm remains untitled and would not confirm or deny the authenticity of the undated deck.) The story.

➤Neil Marshall, the director who is engaged to Charlotte Kirk, the actress at the center of two Hollywood studio head ousters, has been dropped by his agency. Verve no longer represents the writer-director, who made a splash with the 2006 horror movie The Descent and earned acclaim for his work in television with shows such as Game of Thrones. Verve did not comment on the move. Marshall had been with the agency less than a year, signing with Verve last November. More.

Is this e-mail not displaying correctly?
View it in your browser. 

©2020 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved.

AUGUST 27, 2020

UNSUBSCRIBE 

MANAGE PREFERENCES

PRIVACY POLICY

TERMS OF USE